Incidence and Distribution of Mite Species across a Reference Collection of Cynodon spp. (Bermudagrass) Genotypes Growing in Subtropical Australia

Abstract

In November 2014, unreplicated plots of 43 different cultivars and experimental genotypes of Cynodon spp. (bermudagrass) from a 14‐yr‐old turfgrass collection (growing at Cleveland, Queensland, Australia) were rated for mite damage. The phytophagous mite species present, Aceria cynodoniensis (Eriophyidae) and/or Dolichotetranychus australianus (Tenuipalpidae), was initially assessed from the characteristic symptoms caused by each species. Samples taken from 55% of the 29 visually infested genotypes confirmed the diagnoses based on symptoms of the sole or dominant‐mite species present. The data provide a snapshot of infestation by two mite species across a wide range of bermudagrass genotypes at a point in time. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to differential susceptibility of varieties and varietal families to one or other of these mite species, with reference to other records of mite species found in named bermudagrass varieties sampled elsewhere in Australia over the period 2010 to 2017.